Originally posted by crewl1 Lee those are just amazing - I so think it is worth the trouble based on your shots. I'm about to find out myself as my Q will be arriving soon.
Can you describe the process involved? (tripod setup, focus method, degree of hassle etc.)
Thank you for the compliment.
I shoot the 500 daily but there were things to learn:
- no different support needed than I typically use. This was a medium duty but very light, carbon tripod with a gimbal head. But hey, I even shot a BIF hand-held with a da40 XS mounted on the Q. Focus was a lucky guess.
- i ran a full set of iso shots and even minimized noise suppression starts smearing at iso 400, just a little but iso 125-200 are very clean.
- high contrast is often a killer. Note the Egret shots by the Q were taken when the Sun was behind a cloud.
- most of the adaptors have 1/4" hole for tripod. A small handle screwed in gives you preicise control of movement without grabbing the too tiny camera.
- The OK button on the Q will zoom the display, amount set in the menu, for manual focusing. At 4x it is easy enough to focus if you can convince the target to hold still for 10 sec. Focus of course is on the lens although aperture can be set on the lens or the adapter.
- I use the homemade handle to frame and follow a critter and use a IR remote to fire from so i dont have to handle the camera
- f5.6 and f8 both look good and the same to me.
- degree of hassle goes up a lot if you do not have a support that moves easily and precisely. There is just no weight on the camera end to smooth out a creaky tripod head.